All posts by Kirsi Korhonen

About Kirsi Korhonen

Internationalist by heart and profession. Owner and founder of International Fox Agency linkedin.com/in/kirsi www.internationalfoxagency.com

Free support for individuals and companies affected by the conflict in Ukraine

Uncategorized

When words cannot fully express how one feels, hopefully actions can add to that and make more of a difference. We at International Fox Agency are saddened and concerned due to Russia’s attack and war on Ukraine. Hailing from Finland, another country with a long border and complicated history with Russia, we can only imagine how horrible the situation is for Ukrainians and everyone directly affected by this.

We offer free consultation to individuals affected by the conflict who wish to explore the option of relocating to Finland or need advice on mobility within the European Union as well as to companies who need help with HR questions related to the employment of such individuals. We can advice you on immigration, finding accommodation, accessing local services, employment law, etc. You can best reach us by email contact (at) internationalfoxagency.com. Information for those relocating to Finland is also available in our free e-service PocketRelo.

We also acknowledge that this is disheartening for Russians around the globe, who are not to blame for the whims and actions of Russian leadership. We hope that even in this terrible situation we can steer clear of abusive words and actions towards those who do not deserve it.

As part of our effort to help, we have donated to the emergency response coordinated by the World Organization of the Scout Movement together with the World Scout Foundation and in close collaboration with the Eurasia and European Scouting Regions and the National Organization of the Scouts of Ukraine (NOSU) to respond to the unfolding conflict situation in Ukraine. This conflict will impact millions of people. We chose this option since the both of us founders are girl guides and trust the international guide and scout movement to find and help those in need in the affected region.

If you too can help in any way, please join us in doing so today.

Sincerely,

Kirsi and Tanja

Links to support programs and activities:

Help Ukraine – Auta Ukrainaa

Finland for Ukraine

Migri’s instruction for people arriving from Ukraine

Ukrainian Scouts Humanitarian Response (WOSM)

World With Ukraine

Ukrainian Association in Finland

Operation Hope (in Finnish)

Ukraine Take Shelter (accommodation)

Home Accommodation Network

UN Refugee Agency

Commu app for neighbourhood support

#slavaukraini #peace #ukraine #relocation #inclusion #scout #partio

Confidence Boost webinar

International Talent, Webinar
Photo by Burst on Pexels.com

Dear jobseekers,

Finding a job is hard, especially in these time, even though you are awesome! Let us boost your confidence with our stories. Join us online on Thursday 26.11. from 4.30 pm to 6 pm.

We all know that looking for a job takes a lot of work. Sometimes we wonder if there’s something wrong since we are not landing our dream job, or any job, even though we would be great employees. Recruitment policies vary, you never know what the company is looking for, who is the competition, etc. The list of variants is endless. Except for you. YOU are the key.

Come get your confidence boost from our lovely speakers’ shared stories and experiences. Tanja Malo, Mina Kostova and Vivian Maar will share their experiences and tips on staying positive and confident, learning your true worth and building on that to land a job. You need to believe that you are right for the job and for your life. We’ll give you the boost to get there!

Our speakers have versatile backgrounds in job search, recruitment and boosting self confidence. Vivian Maar is an empowerment coach and host of the Girls Get Powerful Youtube channel. She will talk about strengthening your self-worth and compassion towards yourself, and tips on how to handle our inner critic. Vivian brings in the NLP perspective and talks about our mind relates to the job seeking experience.

Mina Kostova is a brain-based coach and a soft skills trainer who believes that change comes from within, and it is a personal choice, but it is inevitable. In this sense, the best way to support others is to facilitate their self-directed learning process and help them to do the job. Mina believes that self-confidence can be trained like a muscle, and as much we train it as stronger it becomes. Here comes a few tips on how you can keep yours fit. 

Tanja Malo is an international HR professional who is passionate about helping others to succeed in their careers. She is an enthusiastic thinker looking for solutions for more accepting working culture and gladly sharing her experiences to empower others. She will talk about confidence, finding ways to decrease tension and anxiety related to job search, and share some tips for practicing these skills. Your hostess Kirsi Korhonen will make sure your questions are addressed and we don’t experience technical hitches.

The event is free of charge and open to all. It will be in English. The event will not be recorded to ensure for a safe and comfortable environment for sharing personal experiences.

Sign-up for the event through EventBrite. We will send you a link and instructions on how to enter the meeting before the event.

Any questions on the webinar can be directed to contact@internationalfoxagency.com.

You are most warmly welcome!

IFA granted Innovation Voucher by Business Finland

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Excellent news! We are happy to announce that International Fox Agency has received an Innovation Voucher from Business Finland to develop the next phase of our digital service PocketRelo.

IFA is partnering with CYF Digital Services to develop PocketRelo further so that it supports employers in international recruitment. PocketRelo HR (working title) will help any organisation employing international talents to keep up to date on their duties as the process moves along from recruitment to induction.

With the new version, IFA aims to support SMEs and other organisations with their internationalisation efforts and activities on a practical and significant level. We are very excited to partner with CYF who have experience in creating similar multifunction platforms and share our enthusiasm for facilitating internationalisation and diversity in local communities.

We would like to thank Business Finland for believing in our idea and CYF Digital Services for helping us develop our ideas into concrete plans.

For more information on PocketRelo HR and how IFA can help also your organisation outline and implement your internationalisation goals, contact Kirsi or Tanja at firstname@internationalfoxagency.com.

IFA innovation voucher

Foxes Spotted at Startup Sauna

Experiences, , ,

Do you know what an accelerator is? Something speeding things up, sure, but who are they really for, and what happens in one? International Fox Agency tried one in the autumn of 2018. And it put a real big grin on each fox’s face!

kiuas2

Sometime last autumn Kirsi heard about something called Kiuas Start (Pre-)Accelerator. We knew that there were some accelerators in Finland and that they were intense workshops for tech ideas, but that’s about it. After a discussion with a more experienced person on our grand plan for IFA, we thought it might be worthwhile to try this accelerator thing ourselves too. The only challenge was to get into one of them. Luckily Kiuas Start’s application period was still ongoing, so we did what anyone does on a Saturday night over a glass of wine and applied for it.

To our positive surprise, we got into the interview! In the interview, we got excited about our grand plan, as we always do, and that might have just been the thing to get us in. Since we did get in, and suddenly we found ourselves in the middle of the startup hustle and bustle, tech talk and business hype. Our backgrounds seemed somewhat different to many of the other participants but luckily we don’t lack courage, and bravely went where few MA’s have gone before.

Again, to our positive surprise and encouragement, we found a lot of like-minded people at Kiuas Start. All of us participants were there to realise some goal. Many of us had a product to develop and the three-week programme certainly made all our plans go forward leaps and bounds. We went through the whole process of product development and got lots of useful feedback from our peers. We gained a lot of experience and valuable tips from mentors such as Pia Erkinheimo, Tomi Kaukinen, Risto Siilasmaa and Jari Jaanto.  Every session gave food for thought and practical ideas for service development.

Kiuas hommia_2

Photo: Matti Lehti gives Tanja valuable tips on website building.

The whole programme was very well structured. The three weeks were intense, full of talks, interactive sessions, workshops, even a hackathon, and of course, fun times. The organisers put in a lot of effort and facilitated a great programme for all of us. And we were all expected to deliver. too All participants were expected to come to the weekly meetings and all other sessions, deliver on their weekly goals, present their products and much more. The group was really supportive and our time together was very well spent.  We want to thank everyone in the program again for everything, the support, the cheer and the spirit.

It was a great privilege for us to participate in this program and we truly appreciate having this opportunity. We made many good connections and continue to keep in touch with our peers and mentors. In addition to learning more about business, strategy and our products, networking was the greatest advantage for us. We also had a private plan of using our own networks to help others and were happy to share some connections with 2/3 of the teams.

Junction guys_2

Photo: Networking with Hack Junction’s Aleksi and Iiro

We wanted to share our experience at Kiuas Start Accelerator to encourage others to join too. If you have an idea about a service/product etc. and you find a suitable accelerator in your area, try it! It might be just the boost you need to get started! It’ll definitely give you confidence, great networks and good experiences to build on.

The application period for the next Kiuas Start is now open. Check out what’s in store and apply here. And if you want to hear more about our experiences, just send us a message (contact details here).

Oh, and our service that we wanted to develop? Well it’s just about ready, so keep watching this space. 😉

All the best,

Kirsi & Tanja

your partners in internationalisation

Kiuasketut